I Love You!

  So this week was honestly a little rough. The work has been moving slow this week. I feel like there is always this cycle - we do well, see lots of miracles, but then the next week it seems like everything just falls through. It's like the pride cycle in the Book of Mormon. I'm grateful for the high times and the low times. Because although the high times make me the most happy, I know that we have low times to humble us and to help me realize that I can just try harder the next week!

  This weekend has been pretty crazy because I experienced my first big earthquake in Japan. I've felt little ones throughout my mission, but yesterday during sacrament meeting, all of the sudden everyone's phones started making this warning sound (it kind of sounded like a fire alarm) and then about 5 seconds later the ground starts to shake. It was so weird because it took me like a good 15 seconds to realize what was going on. The shaking only lasted for about a minute and all of the cell phones (because they all have like a warning system to tell you when an earthquake is about to happen) were saying 'this is an earthquake'. It was kind of funny. Not actually as scary as I thought because it was a smaller earthquake. The earthquake happened in Aomori which is on the main island of Japan, but it's pretty close to Hokkaido. It was a 5.0 magnitude in Aomori and in my area (Hakodate) the earthquake was a 4.0 magnitude. So nothing falling over or anything, but you could definitely feel it. We also had tsunami warnings all day yesterday so we made sure to stay away from the beach. But there was also a typhoon that hit yesterday at about 1:30 pm. It was just non-stop rain and wind. It wasn't bad enough for us to stay inside, so we went out in the middle of a typhoon and just kept working. And that's just what you do as a missionary, you always keep working! :)

   This week we were able to meet with an investigator named Iwasaki San. She is in her late 60s. She lives alone because her husband died a number of years ago, and her 2 daughters live near Tokyo. She is a really great lady! She has such wonderful values and opinions. She's not christian, but whenever we talk with her she always has the same sort of thinking as we do. We talked about Christ's example last week and I felt like she was more teaching us. She just kept saying that if everyone would stop being angry and stop hating others then the world would be a better place. It's up to all of us to do our part and show love towards others, not hatred. 

   So yesterday after we had the earthquake I thought about how (not that my life was in jeopardy or anything) it's so important to make sure people know how much we love them because you never know when a natural disaster will hit and it might be the end. Sorry that was a little bit of a sad note to end on, but really never let an opportunity go bye to not tell someone I love you! 

I LOVE YOU ALL! 

Morrison Shimai